Father's Gift: The Sword of Heaven
by Unsacred
Summary: Tenseiga is a healing sword, forged from Sesshoumaru's father's fang. What is the use of a sword that cannot cut? Will it's purpose be revealed? Rated R for violence and adult content. Pairings: SessKagura, later SessRin.


(A/N: This is my first Inuyasha fanfic. I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters I use otherwise I'd be rich and this would be in movie production, and no profit is made from writing this.)

Father's Gift – The Sword of Heaven

Chapter 1

Jaken stared at the irritating little ningen girl in front of him for several solid moments, wondering. It had been ten years, at the very least, that the girl had been traveling with him and his master, and she was little different than when they first encountered her. He sat there for as long as he could, enduring her misbehavior, until finally he could take no more of it. "Put your pale ningen tongue back in your mouth, baka!" he screeched. "That is no way for a lady to act!"

Rin smiled gleefully. It had been her purpose to get a rise out of the little green toad demon, and her plan went off without a hitch. She had sat opposite him and stuck her tongue out in his direction until he broke. Now she was happy. "Hai, Jaken-sama."

The two of them sat around the fire, with the two-headed dragon Ah-Un in close proximity, waiting for their master to return. Rin had just finished eating, and it had seemed to her that Jaken was too overly quiet for her liking. After all, she and Jaken were the only ones to keep each other company, as even when their master was around, he was very quiet.

Rin had followed the Inu-taiyoukai Sesshoumaru since he had revived her from death with his mystical sword as a little girl. In that time she had to deal with Jaken's incessant reminders of how stupid and useless she was, though the little green imp with the bulbous eyes couldn't hide from her that he had slowly become attached to her over the course of the past ten years. He had, after all, watched her mature into a beautiful young woman, and while his view on humans was somewhat jaded, he appreciated her not only for her company- which he had to admit to himself, wasn't terrible- but for her affect on Lord Sesshoumaru. The great Lord of the Western Lands had changed in the past decade. Tremendously so, in comparison to the hundred-odd years that Jaken had been his retainer. Sesshoumaru was ice, and Rin had slowly begun to melt away at his frigid exterior.

But tonight, Sesshoumaru had left them to make camp and make do with one another's company in his absence. He had smelled something in the air, and took off to investigate. As he stalked through the woods, his mind was divided. Part of him concentrated on making no sound as he stalked the trail after his prey, another part celebrated. He had finally caught up to his enemy, and was about to settle things for good. He kept his only remaining hand on the hilt of the Toukijin, the more evil and deadly of his two swords, as he made his way swiftly and silently thought the forest.

But as he entered a clearing where the scent emanated from, he saw that it was not his intended prey. Kagura sat in the middle of the grove, her shoulders slightly shaking, her back turned. No, it was not Naraku, but one of his incarnations. He had dealings with her previously. Ten years had passed since they first met, though their encounters were sporadic and rare.

Sesshoumaru could, now that he was close enough, sense the very subtle differences between Kagura's scent and Naraku's- Kagura had an intense desire about hers, and an intense sorrow. But as he entered the grove, she stopped moving altogether, completely still and silent. He stared at her back for many moments before she finally broke the silence.

"Come to gloat, Sesshoumaru?" she asked, some venom seeping into her voice as she turned to face him. Her face was bruised and cut, her lower lip split and still bleeding, one of her delicate, pointed ears a horrible purplish red. One of her deep, pretty red eyes had a black circle around it and was somewhat swollen. In addition to the smell of blood, there was also that of salt. Kagura had been crying.

"This Sesshoumaru does not gloat," he answered simply, regarding her with a completely emotionless gaze. So, the rumors he had heard were true- Naraku did beat Kagura. He never suspected that it wasn't true. Naraku was no fool, he knew about Kagura's intentions to be free of his control, and he probably beat her to keep her in line. Or perhaps simply out of sadistic spite. Sesshoumaru did not know. But Kagura had approached him many years ago, even offered him shards of the sacred Shikon no Tama, in an effort to convince him to destroy Naraku for her. At the time, he had no interest in joining forces with her, or even in killing Naraku, but things had changed in time. The worthless hanyou had kidnapped Rin, his charge, and even tried to absorb Sesshoumaru into his body to steal his power. Those things were unforgivable, and Naraku had thus managed to eclipse even Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru's hanyou half-brother, on the top of the Inuyoukai Lord's 'To Kill' list.

"Then what?" Kagura asked, her anger wavering. For so long now, most of her life in fact, she had admired the tall, silver-haired youkai Lord. If anyone was strong enough to kill Naraku, it was him. He had rejected her offer years ago, which certainly made her furious, but later she saw that Sesshoumaru could not stay uninvolved, which suited her needs all the same. She was the one that kidnapped Rin, in fact, but had drawn none of Sesshoumaru's ire for doing so. He got her back, safely. And he was perceptive enough to see that, given the choice, she would not have gone through with the kidnapping to begin with. She was smarter, and could find better ways. But it had all worked out the same in the end.

"I caught your scent and was curious," he replied, his face still an expressionless mask.

"Now that your curiosity is satisfied, go away. I don't want any company." She turned away again as she spoke. As an afterthought, and without even thinking about it, she added under her breath, "Not even yours." Her already colored face became a bit more flushed. 'Did he hear that? Of course he did, he's a dog demon. They hear everything,' she thought.

If he heard her last comment, he didn't show any sign of it. But he ignored her order to leave, and simply asked, "Your plans for freedom are not going well?"

Kagura frowned. "No thanks to you," she muttered.

"Kagura." This brought her attention back to his face, and this time, he was standing closer than he was before. "Do not think that this Sesshoumaru owes you anything. You stole my property away from me, and I have not forgotten that."

She sighed. This was not what she needed. First, Naraku beat her around- not even for any good reason, this time, and now- Sesshoumaru. One who, if anyone, could be her knight in shining armor, was rebuking her.

"However," he said, regal and icy as always.

She blinked. However?

"Naraku will die by my hand. This Sesshoumaru will never be... manipulated, again." He paused for a moment- it wasn't really an admission, she knew that he had walked straight into Naraku's trap to get Rin back. "Nor will you," he added.

"Sesshoumaru..." her voiced trailed off, and she stood up, to see closer into those amber eyes of his, but for all her searching she could find no emotion hidden within. They stood there, gazing at each other for several long moments.

Finally, she couldn't take it any more. 'Please,' she thought. 'Don't push me away again. I need someone. I need... this.' She leaned up to him, craned her neck.

He watched her eyes, never blinking, not moving. He simply did not stir. And she kept her eyes on his, until their lips met.

Sesshoumaru remained unscrutable as she kissed him. He neither pushed her away, nor returned her affection. 'To hell with it,' Kagura thought. 'I may never get another chance at this.' She let her eyes slip closed, pressed her body against his, and deepened the kiss. Her lip hurt were Naraku had punched her, but she didn't care. It felt too good to deny, standing there, this close to the Lord of the Western Lands, embracing him.

Finally, he decided to consent.

Later, they lay together in the grass. She rested against his pelt, feeling much rejuvenated. He had certainly renewed her dedication to escape from Naraku, for one. He had reestablished her femininity, for another. He had felt marvelous- it was everything she could have expected. Their clothes lay in piles around them. Of course, aside from his breathing, Sesshoumaru had remained silent throughout, just as he was silent now.

He had been missing this. It was... he could actually barely remember the last time he had taken a lover. And why not? He had promised her nothing. She had initiated it. In the end, he had nothing better to do. Besides, she had been pleasing. But he had been very careful not to mark her as his mate- he could not think of many things worse than for the mate of the great Sesshoumaru to go back to Naraku's castle to be his servant.

"Sesshoumaru?" Kagura asked, trying for once to engage him in an actual conversation. She leaned on her elbow to look at him. She had questions. This wasn't something she just... did. In fact, this was her first encounter with a male in, well, her whole short life. She wasn't entirely sure how to proceed.

"This meant nothing," came Sesshoumaru's response. When he felt her weight lift from his side, he stood immediately and began dressing himself.

Kagura stamped any disappointment out of her voice. "Right." No, of course- Sesshoumaru was right, she realized. He was too uncaring to have participated out of pity. Fortunately, he wasn't so cruel as to push her away again. She felt better. That was all that mattered. As much as his behavior could have broken her heart had she been looking for love- it reaffirmed her and pleased her. It wasn't love she was looking for. She held no such childish desires. She wanted a man, and got one. A better one than Naraku, to be sure.

Sometimes, she was really good at getting what she wanted. Sometimes.

"You will want to remove my scent before you return to your master, or this time he will have reason to beat you," Sesshoumaru commented. "My charges await me." When he finished dressing, tying his armor on and slipping his swords through his obi, he began to walk away, his nostrils still full of Kagura's scent.

It was because of Kagura's scent that Rin was able to watch them from the trees without being detected. And when Sesshoumaru began to move back toward the camp, so did she- much more hurriedly. She knew she had to get back before he did, and before Jaken woke up.


End file.
